Athletics-Diamond League boss Stastny welcomes competition from Grand Slam Track

(Reuters) - Diamond League CEO Petr Stastny said he welcomed the competition from other events such as Michael Johnson's new Grand Slam Track series -- but has issued a warning over looming 2025 calendar clashes that could hurt both athletes and organisers.

"Competition is good in many ways," Stastny said in a wide-ranging media roundtable on Friday. "We do welcome these new projects in general. (But) we do not welcome date clashes, which unfortunately seem to be happening in '25. The roster of athletes is fairly big, but it's not unlimited, so big clashes are not in favour of the organisers nor the athletes."

The Miami Grand Slam on May 2-4, for example, conflicts with the May 3 Diamond League in Shanghai.

The Diamond League, which kicks off its 16th season on April 26 in Xiamen, China -- the first of 15 meetings across four different continents -- benefits from its link to the world athletics championships, Stastny pointed out, with all 32 Diamond League winners receiving wild-card entries into the Sept. 13-21 championships in Tokyo.

It also increased prize money for 2025 to more than $9 million, almost a third higher than the previous four years, with athletes making a total of $18 million including promotional fees.

While the Diamond League has been criticised for its lack of high-profile head-to-head matchups, this year's circuit will feature Keely Hodgkinson, Tsige Duguma and Mary Moraa in a Paris Olympic 800-metres podium rematch at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene on July 5, Stastny noted.

The Shanghai 100 metres will pit reigning Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo against Tokyo 2020 Olympic 100m gold medallist Marcell Jacobs and 2019 world 100m champion Christian Coleman.

The Diamond League's television deals have also been criticised, with streaming service FloTrack, which requires a subscription and might not appeal to the average sports fan, broadcasting the circuit for U.S. fans, for example.

"Of course, we would want to be on free to air throughout, but if you have 32 to 33 hours of programming over the season, then it's not easy to position that live in an attractive time slot, or in some channels," Stastny said. "So yes, there is a mix of pay operations and free to air."

The Diamond League will stick with the traditional take-off board this season for long and triple jump, and not implement the new take-off zone, which is being trialled by World Athletics at some competitions in an effort to reduce foul jumps.

"Because we do have to see it work and see how it is being received by the athletes," Stastny said of the new take-off zone, which measures from where the front foot takes off to where it lands in the pit.

Asked about the lack of 10,000m races in the main program of meets, Stastny said he does not see that changing, because with a two-hour TV window, the "10,000 are not ones we can provide in our main program due to time constraints."

(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Toby Davis)